


Endless

by seabonre



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Confessions, First Kiss, M/M, gratuitous cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 13:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16430147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seabonre/pseuds/seabonre
Summary: He can’t stop thanking God over and over again in his head, falling back into the habit his Mama’d pressed into him when he was younger. He wonders if God ever really needed to try very hard to keep them together all these years.





	Endless

**Author's Note:**

> songs mentioned are [sing me back home](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PEwBdCeINg) by merle haggard and [endless love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bwwo7ctG10) by lionel richie and diana ross

Rhett glides his damp palms over his thighs, gaze fixed thoughtfully at a scratch in the couch’s leather. “That’s normal, I think. There’s no way we could be friends for so long without, you know, at least _considering_ —“

“Nobody’s ever friends this long, Rhett. It just doesn’t happen. We’re the exception in every area.”

“Do you think that’s why we met? For this?” Rhett follows Link’s tone like he’s leashed to it. He feels his words like this is a big deal, bigger than a mere conversation could hold.

Link meets him there, and he’s almost whispering now, “I think we met for everything leading up to this and everything that will... come after.”

“What comes after?”

“Have we ever known the answer to that question?”

Rhett huffs a laugh, smiles, “I guess you’re right.” And after a beat of silence between them, he practically proposes a business transaction. “Well, we better get started then.”

“What?”

“Kiss me?”

Link inhales, and then a quiet, “Okay.”

It is, to Link, a lot like kissing his best friend. He can’t detect the rigor of any of the lust-fueled, passionate kisses he once shared with girlfriends or one-hit-wonders, instead he feels very much like he‘s kissing his best friend. He‘s kissing Rhett, not a hot girl, not his catalog wet dream. And, gosh, he’s _very_ okay with that.

Rhett may not live up to the mental image of the real, magazine blond he’d cradled inside the safety of his wildest fantasies for so many years, but somehow this is better. _He‘s_ better. The substance in this interaction leaves no room for simple surface lust or orgasmic desire, but it’s everything else and more. It‘s three-and-a-half decades of never being really alone, of laughing at the same things over and over again, of being able to cast his eyes up and see Rhett standing so tall he practically blocks out the sun, glowing around the edges. The feelings arrive explosive, soft, rough around the edges (which, if he’s honest, is probably the beard). There’s a new swelling in his chest, in his lips, like an over-inflated balloon; he fears he may float away if Rhett’s hands happen to leave him in favor of unhitching the lifelong anchor he has on Link’s heart.

He didn’t know it could feel like this. He didn’t know it had always been this easy, always arms-length away. Seven inches to the sky.

They pull apart after what feels like forever and no time at all. Link cradles Rhett’s head in his hands as though it might tumble from his shoulders if not for him holding it. “Rhett,” he breathes. It's as if he‘s trying with all his might to get the man to realize something, wanting to shake him. He closes his eyes and says it again in italics.

“Yeah, Link. It’s still me, buddy,” Rhett tries, yet even he can’t convince himself that he‘s the same man he’d been only moments ago.

Rhett had expected to feel guilty — to feel regret for having not done this sooner. But here, he can detect no such feeling; remorse for lost time has no place among every good thing he‘s touching right now. Because Rhett’s certain, as long as they’d waited, that they didn’t need this before. It wasn’t their fault, at sixteen or twenty or thirty. He knows they couldn’t have built to something so gratifying if they hadn’t waited for it, though they never could’ve said what it was they’d been waiting for. Their threads needed time to wind around one another; they had to finally do that something _big_ they once promised, and Rhett‘s convinced their entire life had built up to this collision. Of all they’d accomplished together, Rhett can’t help but think that this moment alone is their blood-written promise finally being fulfilled.

They end up kissing again, slow and simple. They’d had forever to wait, it’s only fitting that they’d have some forever left over. Link keeps his eyes open when he kisses Rhett, drooped and searching, in case he should open them again and awake from a routine dream. Whatever this is, he doesn’t want to miss a thing.

At the next separation, Link stays close and speaks into Rhett’s lips, trembling and reverent. “So,” he swallows, forcing a smile, “this is a thing now, you think?”

Rhett’s heart seizes then, hot pity flooding his chest, unable to bear the thought of Link believing that Rhett might not feel the same. Even after all of this. His voice is soft and possessive when he breathes, “Of course it is, Link.”

“Yeah.” Link pulls him closer, using his thumb to trace the soft skin beneath Rhett’s eyelid when he gains more voice to request, “Could you get your guitar?”

Rhett smiles softly, trying to catch his eye. “Don’t wanna let you go.”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere. You know that.”

“Can’t we just sing here?” Rhett leans back until his body lay supported by the back of the couch, further now from Link if only by a few inches. He misses his warmth instantly, grappling blindly until he finds his hand. Link smiles fondly from the other end of the couch, eyes gazing up at him through miles of lashes and lenses. Rhett steals the offending frames (too much glare, like cloud-cover atop Link’s eyes) and places them on his own face. Link grins all the wider, unable to keep it out of his voice.

“Sing me back home, huh?”

Rhett smiles with his eyes, and after thinking for a moment, pitches his voice up a few octaves. “ _My first love_...”

Link jabs him in the stomach with their conjoined hands. “That’s not what I meant!”

“ _You’re every breath that I take_ …” Rhett laughs as he continues to sing his portion of their signature Lionel Richie duet, his voice wavering in time with every chuckle that spills out of him.

“Alright, alright!” Rhett grabs Link’s free hand from where it’d landed in his armpit, tangling their fingers together loosely, four hands grasping each other now. As Rhett’s laughter dies down, not once do his eyes leave Link’s. “ _Make my old memories come alive, and take me away and turn back the years_...”

Link plays with Rhett’s hands mindlessly as he drinks in his best friend’s familiar southern baritone. He’d since gotten much closer, having migrated until he and Rhett lay facing each other with their sides up against the back of the couch. Link sighs contentedly, letting his eyelids fall. “There he is.”

“Me or Merle?”

“Mm. Good question.”

Rhett continues to sing low, feeling more at ease with every happy twitch of Link’s eyebrows.

When Rhett decides the song is over, Link ceases dancing their fingers and opens his eyes; what he sees is Rhett akin to a man smitten to his wit’s end, still looking right at him with round, open eyes and cheeks to match. Goodness, his eyes are so _lovely_ , skin porcelain-perfect. As their gazes meet, Rhett’s smile crinkles his nose, cracking the ceramic, and Link melts all the more.

Link moves his wrists to either side of Rhett’s stubbled neck, unraveling their fingers (his had grown damp and shaky by association). Their lips meet in slow motion and they take their time, absorbing the endorphins that surge at the sensation of soft smiles and sighs that say _finally_.

They part eventually, but Rhett stays close, occasionally pressing sweet kisses to Link’s cheek or eyelid or chin. He can’t kiss him enough.

“You remember,” a rasp, “when you were a teenager,” a kiss, “and you’d meet a girl...” a pulse, “And you’d think it was forever?”

Link hums, alive.

“Man... _This_ is forever, man.”

“Come on. You knew that. Before any of this,” Link whispers.

“Yeah,” Rhett’s eager eyes thaw with the reality of their past shifting behind them, face suddenly tender, affected. “Guess I just never really trusted it this much.”

Link hums once more, feeling the urge to comfort. With an abrupt motion, he swipes his hand up to Rhett’s temple. “Get my glasses off your face. You’re foggin’ ‘em up.”

Rhett flinches as the stem of the glasses nearly meets his open eye, sobering him up. With little room to move, he snatches Link’s wrist and sets the glasses down himself. “Watch it, man! You’re too shaky — gonna poke my eye out.”

Link scoffs, an exasperated smile on his face as he smooths a fly-away hair at Rhett’s crown. “’m’not gonna hurt you, bo. I love you.”

Rhett stiffens, blushing fast at Link’s gentle touches and matter-of-fact words. He avoids his eyes and busies himself with rubbing his thumb at a nonexistent stain on the couch and mumbling, “Whatever. Just— you need to get that checked out soon.”

“Uh-huh.” Link smiles with an open mouth, his squinted eyes knowing he’s caught him bashful, nervous.

Rhett clears his throat. “I love you. As well. I should say it back.”

Link giggles, pitching his voice low to mock him, “‘ _I love you as well, man_.’”

“Come on!” Rhett guffaws, jabbing at Link’s torso to cover up his own bumbling. When he jerks away, Rhett starts to poke him more decidedly, tickling him with every bit of euphoric energy he has.

Link protests best he can, wriggling and kicking and sucking in air between resonant cackles. But Rhett’s got him pinned to the couch with his legs, and once Link’s nearly tumbled to the floor a third time, Rhett stops his prodding, laughing strong and giddy into Link’s flat chest.

Link’s still breathing heavily, trying to clear his throat and wipe his eyes beneath Rhett’s resting weight. Rhett’s laughter dies down, but there’s still a happy smile on his face when he looks back up at Link. He’s radiant.

“You look weird.”

Link squints. “Well, gee, _thanks_ , dude—“

“Nah, no, you just look...” Rhett shakes his head. “Your face is just... so soft. You look like we’re in college, y’know? And you don’t got your glasses on.”

“Hm,” Link nods, looking at Rhett and knowing exactly what he means. He pushes a hand through Rhett’s hair, silky between his fingers, chuckling when Rhett’s eyes slip closed. “I should shave your beard again.”

“You didn’t even shave it before.”

“Would you let me?”

“Well, that depends,” Rhett rumbles, moving to rest his weight next to Link rather than on top of him, pulling him against his torso with two kisses to his forehead, “What’s in it for me?”

Link casts his eyes upwards, pretending to think hard with a furrow in his brow. “Well, let’s see. I could grow back my goatee and we could both look equally ridiculous.” He pauses, smirking, “And then write ourselves mackin’ it up in the dorm rooms.”

“You think Youtube Red would take that?”

“Nah. But maybe RedTube.”

Rhett lets out a loud laugh, cheeks pleasantly sore from smiling for so long, heart aching for other reasons. “Whatever. Still wanna make out with you.”

“You said it, brother,” Link mutters, leaning in as close as he can get, eyes glued to Rhett’s lips.

Rhett meets him halfway, only close enough to brush a dry, feather-light kiss over Link’s top lip. Link scoots in even more, and Rhett only indulges him for a moment with lips and tongue before whispering, “We should talk.”

Link pulls Rhett back in for a deeper kiss, working himself up further. “We talk for a living, dude,” he huffs, melding their lips again.

“Hah,” Rhett moves until he’s back on top of Link, catching his wrists in time to pin them to the arm of the couch above Link’s head, “I’m serious.”

Link sighs before grinning wickedly. “Alright. So long as you keep manhandling me.”

Rhett chuckles, dragging his hand down one of Link’s arms slowly, mind wandering. He can’t stop thanking God over and over again in his head, falling back into the habit his Mama’d pressed into him when he was younger. He wonders if God ever really needed to try very hard to keep them together all these years. _Thank you for giving me him, thank you for letting him love me back, thank you for making him so prett_ —

“What’re you thinking about?”

Rhett snaps out of his reverie at Link’s smooth voice and concerned eyes, two thumbs rubbing circles against Rhett’s waist. Link’s shirt is wrinkled and his eyes are too dazzling to be human. He doesn’t blame those fabled sailors, buckling to their doom from the sirens’ mirage of turquoise and tune. Absently, pressingly, Rhett thinks he wants to die in love with Link. “You. It’s always you.”

Link tilts his head, bringing a hand up against Rhett’s face to thumb his beard with a swollen heart. Then, like a flipped switch, he adopts a teasing smile. “You complainin’?”

Rhett rolls his eyes at Link’s cockiness, wondering how these roles reversed, and shakes his head both in answer and mock-annoyance.

“What do we do tomorrow?” Link slides his hand to the back of Rhett’s neck, using the leverage to heave himself into a sitting position with Rhett still halfway in his lap. “How does this change things?”

“Well,” Rhett brushes an errant hair from Link’s forehead before leaning his own against the warm skin. “I can take you on a date if you want.”

Link’s gut flutters at the suggestion, “Is that right?”

“Yeah. And I can do this—“ he drops his voice, bringing their lips together again, sweet and wet and to die for. Rhett revels in the contented noise that leaves Link when Rhett pulls back slow, lips sliding apart and then back together again.

“Mmm,” Link husks, “I think I can live with that.”

“I can call you in the morning,” he plants a soft kiss on Link’s cheek. “Just to tell you I love you. And I can kiss you when I get in the car,” another on the lips. “And I can hold your hand on the way in,” his knuckles.

“You're a dork.” Link’s sheepish grin takes over his face, his cheeks a deeper shade of pink with each peck. “I can barely drive as it is, man.”

“Don’t care.” Rhett wraps his arms around Link with a hand at the back of his head, holding him to his chest. He buries his face in Link’s neck, breathing him in, feeling drowsy with comfort at his smell. Link giggles, resting his head on Rhett’s shoulder and kissing the cotton of his shirt.

For the first time since their first kiss not too long ago, the two men sit silently. There are no quips to be made or confessions to share. They simply allow themselves to revel in the contentment they bring one another, that they’ve always brought one another. The stillness is nothing short of peaceful, and the warmth of their affection inspires Link to begin rocking them gently, listening to Rhett’s steady heartbeat echo through his chest like a metronome.

“ _Oh, love, I’ll be a fool for you, I’m sure_ …”

Rhett stirs at Link’s voice muffled against his shoulder, lifting his head and smirking with a furrow in his brow. He catches Link’s eye from where he still lies, and they share a snicker. Rhett raises an eyebrow when Link nods at him in encouragement.

Rhett keeps his voice soft as he smiles, amused, forgetting his falsetto this time: “ _You know I don’t mind_ …”

Link lifts his head to nuzzle his nose under Rhett’s jaw, in his beard, opting to skip a line or two, “‘ _Cause you mean the world to me_.”

With shared warmth and perhaps a kiss on the head, they half-hum, half-speak through the next line together, but feel its weight all the same.

“ _I’ve found, in you, my endless love_.”

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up [on tumblr](http://seabonre.tumblr.com) :-)


End file.
